The History of Sangre Grande, Trinidad & Tobago

Рет қаралды 1,816

2 жыл бұрын

Like, Subscribe and Share!
Tiktok- www.tiktok.com/@ahcurrystewhi...
Instagram- / ah_curry_stew_history
Facekbook- / ah-curry-stew-history-...
Sangre Grande is the largest town in east Trinidad, a place that is still relatively new compared to the rest of Trinidad and Tobago. Grande [as everyone in the area calls it] is the epicenter of economic development and transportation in east Trinidad. Many ask the question how Sangre Grande got its name and locals from the area would amount the town name to meaning Spanish for Big Blood and relate it to the nearby village Sangre Chiquito which is Spanish for small blood. There are of two known origins for the name of Sangre Grande. The First one popularized by historian Michael Anthony was that Sangre Grande was named after its environment in specific its river. “In the late 1770s, Spanish surveyors who were charting the island for the purposes of creating a map found that the waters of two of the tributaries of the nearby Oropouche River were red as blood due to natural reddish soil found in east Trinidad, hence the area with the larger tributary {Big blood}, was named Sangre Grande, while the neighboring town of Sangre Chiquito was named {small blood} because of the smaller tributary”.
The second origin of the town’s name is explored by Patricia Toney in her thesis on Sangre Grande and came in relation with the aftermaths of the 1699 Areana massacre. Trinidad during this time was a colony under the Spanish crown. The indigenous people on the island comprised of the Kalinagos {also known as the Caribs} and a lesser amount of Tainos {also known as the Arawaks} . toney devled into the Areana Massacre a retaliation which occurred in San Raphael, in the district of Arima where the indigenous people rose in revolt against the church. For years they were grossly overworked and ill-treated thus, on December 1, 1699, they reacted by murdering the Capuchin Fathers, desecrating the statues and ornaments of the church and burning the entire mission to the ground. In fear of their punishments for retaliation, the indigenous people banned together in gurella warfare against the Spaniards, the governor and his entourage who were expected to make an official visit to the mission. All but one of the governor’s party died in the ambush while the governor died from an arrow wound three days later. The indigenous people realizing the escalated situation, fled to the sea-coast in anticipation of the Spaniards .
the massacre was soon made known and the religious sector, the government and its people in the colony sent armed forces to capture and punish the indigenous people for their retaliation. The Spaniards with horses and their advance hunting skills eventually caught up to the trail of the fleeing indigenous people in the area that would soon be known as Sangre Grande. The indigenous people in defense, lodged a strong resistance with their arrows but the Spaniards, with their advanced weapons, soon killed and wounded the majority of them. It was said that so much blood was shed that, the name, Sangre Grande, was the only appropriate name that could describe the scene “big blood”. The Spaniards then hunted the remaining indigenous people to what is now known as Sangre Chiquito, where little blood was shed, thus the name Sangre Chiquito - meaning “little blood”.
Development
Early sangre grande
The town of Sangre Grande did not exist until the late 1850s, little is known about any development until the late 19th century. Bissessarsingh 2010 wrote, “The district in which the town of Sangre Grande was situated, the Ward of Turure (two-ray) was created as an administrative district under the Wards and Counties system in the 1850s. Prior to that the only settlement of the area occurred temporarily in the 1830s when Vincente Farfan lived in self-imposed exile at a small clearing on the flatlands or vegas of the North Oropouche River with his family. During that period, Sangre Grande was totally underdeveloped. Sangre Grande had the appearance of a wild, unclaimed, densely wooded village with a few sparse settlements occupied by some of the Indians who had managed to escape the bloody encounter with the Spaniards.
Patricia toney stated that the town began up the hill at Upper Sangre Grande {a place now known to many as boys town and bravo hill}. It was there that all the commercial and administrative activities were transacted. It was the official residence of the warden, the most respectable and most influential person in the community in the nineteenth century and early twentieth centuries. He was regarded as the representative of the King in the County. This warden was chosen by the entertainment, slavery, gaming, cooking, how to, past, Trinidad, west indies, America, new wrd, facts, video, new, trains,

Пікірлер: 7

@amieloneil498 2 күн бұрын

Thanks for the information

@SterlingHospedales 2 ай бұрын

Very good information! Love seeing information of where I was raised!

@noor-ud-dinmohammed2569 2 жыл бұрын

Really excellent work bro. So much of our history remains in books and is rarely spoken. You truly are filling a nich with content like this. I also love how you pronounced Sangre Grande as "Sandy Grandy" whole way through. Lots of people think it's "correct" to approximate standard Spanish or English in pronouncing creole loan-words but your pronunciation was true to Trinidad Creole. Really gives your channel an identity of it's own. Looking forward to more.